Universal Studios

Now that we had Disneyland out of the way, we still had three more attractions to see, one in LA and the other two in San Diego. Trev has written about our adventures at Universal Studios in LA, California. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We set the alarm clock to get up really early. Why?

Because were off to Hollywood’s famous Universal Studios Theme Park! Now this wasn’t going to be an easy thing to do. Universal Studios was located on the other side of LA, and LA has over 15 000 000 people (count those zeros!) and almost everyone of those people has a car and they were all off to work at 6.30am when we wanted to drive the freeways to Hollywood! The kids stayed asleep whilst I drove for two hours (who needs the big theme park thrill rides when you have LA’s freeways!)

We arrived early. So early in fact, that we were the only vehicle lined up at the parking lot waiting for the gates to open. That was OK as it gave us time to wake the kids up and have breakfast before the crowd came.

Universal Studios was a magic place. A little like Disneyland (not quite as magical, but very interesting to be able to learn all about the movie industry… and it all came with fantastic experiences and rides).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firstly we checked out Shrek. This was a 4D experience where we don 3D glasses and sit in water squirting chairs that jump all over the place. The kids loved it, especially when Shrek farted into the fire breathing Dragons face. You could actually smell the real sulphur smell of his fart!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We raced around meeting and having our photos taken with all sorts of movie characters – from Curious George to The Simpsons. The Donkey, from Shrek, was the funniest as he joked about our big family and told us “he” knows when to stop having waffles! When The Mummy came along and held his hand out to Chayse for a high five, Chayse was terrified and hid behind my leg!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jai, Kaitlin and I decided to enter the House of Horror. This was a spooky old house with deep dark tunnels and gloomy frightening rooms. Brave Jai took the lead through all the cobwebs and haunted noises and he passed on by the scary moving creatures about us (he new they were fake!), then all of a sudden this disgusting creature (a very real one) lept out of the darkness and attacked him! This frightened the living daylights out of him (and us!). From then onwards Jai and Kaitlin huddled together for safety and held onto the back of my shirt. We continued through the maze of tunnels and were bombarded, attacked, chased, grabbed at by all kinds of creatures, monsters and body parts from the Chainsaw Massacre to Frankenstein. All real humans, I think, in costume. We were sure glad to get out the other side!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped to watch the Animals in Movies. Here dogs, farm animals, orang-utans and other animals demonstrated their tricks that they do on the movies. The animals that performed were actual animal movie stars from some of the latest movies. (don’t ask me which ones!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flynn, Jai, Kaitlin and I jumped on a Universal tram tour of all the movie sets. The guided tour took us into the actual sets of classic movies such as “Jaws” with its huge mechanical shark and “Back to the Future” with its time machine car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sets are always being remodelled for current movies such as recent filming of “The Mummy”. Whilst we were there, they were filming “Desperate Housewives”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tram also took us into some wild movie experience sets. We entered a set which erupted into a very realistic massive terrifying earthquake. The whole place erupted with fire, crashing buildings, smashing trains and tidal waves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All controlled bycomputers and giant mechanical robots. We were all very shaken! We also entered King Kongs domain. He was living in a jungle full of carnivorous dinosaurs (this was actually a huge 360 foot tunnel imax … the biggest 4D imax in the world). As our tram entered this tunnel, King Kong went mad! All hell broke loose as he fought the massive dinosaurs. There was will noisy action all around us and our tram was knocked about, smashed by dinosaurs, jumped on by King Kong, then thrown down a cliff. The experience seemed so real and we all thought we were going to die! Now there was a lot more that happened on this tour, but I’ll save telling you that another day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were all entertained by the special effects team who showed us how they create the illusions that we see in the movies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight of the day was seeing the Water World. This was a huge movie set, where the hit motion picture was brought to life. It looked like something from a Mad Max movie. We sat there laughing at the audience being wet by the actors who were firing up everyone up for the show by throwing buckets of water at them. The show began and had us sitting on the edges of our seat the whole time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were massive explosions, real crashing planes, machine guns, jet skis, boats and falling dead people! In the end the hero got the girl and saved the world! After the performance, we were able to meet with the actors, who had all acted in real movies and shows on TV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jai, Kit Chayse and I braved The Simpsons experience. This was a simulator, where you sit strapped into a chair that jumps all over the place as you watch Bart and his family going on one wild ride at a theme park… all in 4D. It really felt like you were on a rollercoaster ride with Bart. To my surprise Chayse watched the whole thing and didn’t cover his eyes once!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jai and I jumped on The Mummy experience. Now this was a real rollercoaster that took us through an array of dark tunnels with monsters jumping out screaming all over the place. Most of it was in complete blackness! We were both a little pale when we climbed off the ride, although that didn’t stop Jai jumping back on for a second go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I donned a raincoat for my final experience of the day. It was Jurassic Park. I couldn’t convince anyone else to come with me. They were all petrified of the 84 foot vertical drop on a rubber raft. I must admit, I was not feeling overly confident about it either (but you know when you tell everyone that they are chicken, you just have to do the ride to prove that you are the tough guy!). So on I went past all the wild life sized moving robotic dinosaurs and into a flooded warehouse where an enraged T-Rex toppled cars on top of me and tried to eat me. Then suddenly the raft dropped down through a waterfall and over the vertical drop. Wow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were so many things to see and do, we didn’t even get around to them all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we knew it, our time was up. But I speak for all when I say, the day was awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another day done and more in store with our next blog. If you like reading about the gossip about stars in magazines, then you’ll enjoy the next place we visit in Hollywood. Until then………